If you decorate cakes or have ever purchased cake-making supplies, chances are you are familiar with the Wilton brand. Their products are hard to miss, as Wilton has led sales in baking and cake decorating products for more than half a century. Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Woodridge, Illinois, Wilton has grown tremendously since its inception as a family-owned cake decorating business during America’s Great Depression.
Today, Wilton Industries sells more than 2,000 baking items and food-related products, from instruction manuals and cake pans to pastry bags and food coloring. Wilton products are also not sold only in the United States. Major retailers in more than 150 countries sell Wilton products. And the business continues to grow with approximately 400 new consumer products being developed annually.
It all started in 1929 when Dewey McKinley Wilton, with the help of his wife, started a small cake decorating business in Chicago. Then came the stock market crash and the nation’s Great Depression. Surrounded by high unemployment rates and bread lines, Wilton carved out a thriving niche for himself creating wedding cakes for famous Chicago hotels and clubs. The Wilton family business grew throughout the 1930s.
Decorating cakes for the rich and famous gave the Wilton reputation a good boost. So when they opened a cake decorating and candy making school for caterers and chefs, they had no problem with enrollment.
By 1947, the “Wilton Method” had become a household word among cake decorators, and a leading department store chain, JC Penney, was now promoting and selling Wilton products.
Before long, the Wilton brand became synonymous with cake decorating and school supplies. All of this publicity laid the foundation for Wilton’s decorating empire that continues to influence wedding cake trends.
Then in 1977, under the leadership of Wilton CEO Vince Naccarato, three diverse companies came together as Wilton Industries: Wilton Enterprises, Copco, and Weston Gallery.
Today, each division is a recognized leader in its market. Wilton Enterprises is the number one preferred brand in baking and cake decorating products, Copco is the leading designer and marketer of quality teapots and cookware, and Weston Gallery is a leader in luxury picture frame design and marketing.
Under Naccarato’s continued leadership, the company enjoys strong national sales and distribution growth, largely attributed to “category management,” which bases marketing on the trends tracked, and through the ” supply chain management “, which helps retailers reduce marketing costs. .
According to the Austin Chronicle report, the Wilton Method was the undisputed ruler of cake decorating until the 1980s, when Martha Stewart’s methods gained popularity. His made-from-scratch cakes and his stance that taste is as important as decoration challenged Wilton’s use of shortening and cake mixes.
However, Wilton continues to enjoy great success and lead the industry. According to Hoover’s November 2006 business report, Wilton Industries employed 650 people and reported $ 325 million in sales for fiscal 2005, a 7.8 percent increase from the prior year.
For three-quarters of a century, Wilton has offered cake decorating classes in the United States and Canada, including the Wilton School of Cake Decorating in northern Illinois. Wilton is partially credited with bringing the intricate European method of cake decorating to the United States and Canada.
In fact, Wilton’s cake decorating classes enroll nearly 200,000 students each year and from around the world.
While many cake decorators enjoy the Wilton experience in the classroom, others, such as the client shown below, prefer to learn at their own pace at home with video instructions, such as the “Decorating Cakes Made Easy” series. .
Another ingredient in Wilton’s recipe for success is its annual “Your Take on Cake” contest, which draws thousands of talented cake decorators from across the United States and Canada competing for $ 5,000 in cash and an all-expenses-paid trip. to attend Wilton School’s Two-Week Master’s Course for Cake Decorating in Darien, Illinois.